In the conventional construction of exterior building walls, a layer of thermal insulating material is installed between the inner and outer wall surfaces. The cost of separately installing individual layers of insulation is exorbitant.
Interior wall surfaces generally are constructed of plaster or pressed board which may be decorated by papering or painting. Occasionally, the plaster is swirled to provide a decorative effect. Such painting and papering requires the expenditure of substantial manual labor which is relatively expensive. Although the advent of wood paneling has provided some variety in interior, decorative walls, builders, architects, and decorators are limited in their choice of interior walls.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for forming a prefinished wallboard including a wall panel with a planar surface covered with a decorative coating having pattern forming recesses therein of a depth less than the thickness of said coating and having a contour different from the contour of the panel.
The exterior surfaces of conventional wood panel wall constructions are also easily scratched and marred and require refinishing after limited use. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus for forming a wallboard including a wall panel covered with settable material which has a pattern formed in relief therein and which is substantially harder when set than the wall panel so as to be scratch resistant.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide wallboard fabricating apparatus which includes a rotatable pattern-forming drum having pattern-forming projections thereon for forming a relief pattern in settable material covering one side of a panel and apparatus for thereafter applying a decorative coating only to the non-relieved portions of the settable material.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.